Dataset Information

Patterns of Snow Leopard Site Use in an Increasingly Human-Dominated Landscape.

ABSTRACT: Human population growth and concomitant increases in demand for natural resources pose threats to many wildlife populations. The landscapes used by the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and their prey is increasingly subject to major changes in land use. We aimed to assess the influence of 1) key human activities, as indicated by the presence of mining and livestock herding, and 2) the presence of a key prey species, the blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), on probability of snow leopard site use across the landscape. In Gansu Province, China, we conducted sign surveys in 49 grid cells, each of 16 km2 in size, within a larger area of 3392 km2. We analysed the data using likelihood-based habitat occupancy models that explicitly account for imperfect detection and spatial auto-correlation between survey transect segments. The model-averaged estimate of snow leopard occupancy was high [0.75 (SE 0.10)], but only marginally higher than the naïve estimate (0.67). Snow leopard segment-level probability of detection, given occupancy on a 500 m spatial replicate, was also high [0.68 (SE 0.08)]. Prey presence was the main determinant of snow leopard site use, while human disturbances, in the form of mining and herding, had low predictive power. These findings suggest that snow leopards continue to use areas very close to such disturbances, as long as there is sufficient prey. Improved knowledge about the effect of human activity on large carnivores, which require large areas and intact prey populations, is urgently needed for conservation planning at the local and global levels. We highlight a number of methodological considerations that should guide the design of such research.

SUBMITTER: Alexander JS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4865053 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Patterns of Snow Leopard Site Use in an Increasingly Human-Dominated Landscape.

Alexander Justine Shanti JS Gopalaswamy Arjun M AM Shi Kun K Hughes Joelene J Riordan Philip P

PloS one 20160512 5

Human population growth and concomitant increases in demand for natural resources pose threats to many wildlife populations. The landscapes used by the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and their prey is increasingly subject to major changes in land use. We aimed to assess the influence of 1) key human activities, as indicated by the presence of mining and livestock herding, and 2) the presence of a key prey species, the blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), on probability of snow leopard site us ...[more]

PMID: 27171203

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Project description:Understanding abundance and distribution of species is often necessary for wildlife conservation. However, elusive species such as the leopard (Panthera pardus) that have wide geographical distribution and typically low abundance pose a constant challenge to conservationists due to logistical and methodological constraints. Although leopard abundance has been estimated at the scale of protected areas or other smaller regions, reliable information describing leopard distribution over large spatial scales remains largely unavailable. Knowledge about space use by leopards within landscapes could help improve conservation management, reduce human-wildlife conflict, and also facilitate population status monitoring. We carried out occupancy surveys across c. 24,000 km2 in southern India in a landscape that consisted a mosaic of leopards' natural habitats and highly human-dominated areas. We investigated the effects of key ecological and anthropogenic variables in determining leopard space use patterns. We addressed imperfect detections obtained using sign surveys conducted on spatially replicated transects within sampling units by modeling detection as a function of spatial auto-correlation and covariates. Our results show that the probability of site-use by leopards across the landscape varied between 0.02 (95% CI [0.01-0.09]) and 0.99 (95% CI [0.99-1.0]) across the study area. The best model (AIC weight = 0.97) showed that the probability of leopard space use was affected by the proportion of natural habitats and the presence of large wild prey in the sampling unit. Given that India is undergoing rapid modifications due to economic changes and demand for natural resources, we emphasize the need for landscape-based approach for conserving and monitoring leopards. We argue that leopards are an indicator of functional ecosystems represented by scrub, deciduous forest and rocky outcrops that do not always get prioritized for conservation, unlike densely forested habitats. Similarly, conservation of natural large wild prey, especially outside the protected area system, should assume greater importance, which could also have a positive impact on reducing human-leopard conflict.

Project description:Understanding large carnivore occurrence patterns in anthropogenic landscapes adjacent to protected areas is central to developing actions for species conservation in an increasingly human-dominated world. Among large carnivores, leopards (Panthera pardus) are the most widely distributed felid. Leopards occupying anthropogenic landscapes frequently come into conflict with humans, which often results in leopard mortality. Leopards' use of anthropogenic landscapes, and their frequent involvement with conflict, make them an insightful species for understanding the determinants of carnivore occurrence across human-dominated habitats. We evaluated the spatial variation in leopard site use across a multiple-use landscape in Tanzania's Ruaha landscape. Our study region encompassed i) Ruaha National Park, where human activities were restricted and sport hunting was prohibited; ii) the Pawaga-Idodi Wildlife Management Area, where wildlife sport hunting, wildlife poaching, and illegal pastoralism all occurred at relatively low levels; and iii) surrounding village lands where carnivores and other wildlife were frequently exposed to human-carnivore conflict related-killings and agricultural habitat conversion and development. We investigated leopard occurrence across the study region via an extensive camera trapping network. We estimated site use as a function of environmental (i.e. habitat and anthropogenic) variables using occupancy models within a Bayesian framework. We observed a steady decline in leopard site use with downgrading protected area status from the national park to the Wildlife Management Area and village lands. Our findings suggest that human-related activities such as increased livestock presence and proximity to human households exerted stronger influence than prey availability on leopard site use, and were the major limiting factors of leopard distribution across the gradient of human pressure, especially in the village lands outside Ruaha National Park. Overall, our study provides valuable information about the determinants of spatial distribution of leopards in human-dominated landscapes that can help inform conservation strategies in the borderlands adjacent to protected areas.

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Dataset Information

Patterns of Snow Leopard Site Use in an Increasingly Human-Dominated Landscape.

Publications

Patterns of Snow Leopard Site Use in an Increasingly Human-Dominated Landscape.

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